Thursday, 8 May 2014

Phantasma Disques continue to uncover and push some of the most interesting and original up and coming electronic artists around today. Canada's Vvinter Rainbovv are no exception. The projects début EP, 'Fvtvra' is a psychedelic trip into the dark recesses of contemporary electronica. Blending dark ambient, trip-hop, pop, shoegaze and cold wave the band reform them into a subversive but strangely approachable formula.

The EP opens with the slow thumping of 'Evermore' which recalls the likes of early 90's electro-industrial acts such as Spahn Ranch with it's menacing but catchy simplicity. 'Anyone Who's Anyone' opts for a lighter trip-hop framework that makes great use of multi-layered clean vocals and even some rap embellishments. The long and slowly evolving intro to 'Minotavr' makes nice rhythmic use of both the synths and slow distorted vocals to compliment the stuttering drums to create an almost instrumental feeling piece. This is carried on into 'Fade Away', which again makes good use of the heavily vocoded vocals, rendering them down to the level of another instrument in the mix for some very trippy listening. The albums crowning glory though is the sublimely epic 'The Kingdom Ov Filth' which at nearly ten minutes in length really shows off the scope of the talent behind the music to create a danceable, yet wholly ambient track. The EP is rounded off by the title track 'Fvtvra', which brings things back to the slow thumping of 'Evermore', albeit with a distinctly more experimental edge to it.

'Fvtvra' is a nicely written and put together album that has been mixed and mastered to get the most out of the music. It always retains it's experimental nature, but never becomes too dense or unsustainable, but keeps drawing the listener ever deeper.

This début EP shows a lot of promise for Vvinter Rainbow. It isn't the most ground-breaking release in the Pahantasma Disques catalogue, but it more than holds its own, and shows a well-honed sense of commercial viability that is often bypassed by other artists. It will be interesting to see where the follow up to 'Fvtvra' takes the band.